France: US helping support Mali operation

BAMAKO, Mali - France's foreign minister says the United States is providing communications and transport help for an international military intervention aimed at wresting Mali's north out of the hands of Islamist extremists.

Laurent Fabius says Britain, Denmark, and other European countries also are helping.

Fabius said on RTL radio Sunday, "We have the support of the Americans for communications and transport." He didn't provide details.

U.S. officials on Saturday said they had offered to send drones to Mali.

The three-day-old French-led effort to take back Mali's north from the al-Qaida-linked extremists has included airstrikes by jets and combat helicopters on at least four towns.